I see two broad categories of cultures: Simple and Advanced. Stone Age people paddling tree trunks would fall into the "simple" category.
They were advanced enough NOT to use petrified wood for their canoes.
I guess to people that think like you would have them invent the lumber mill and nails first, then build the canoe and be classified as “advanced”. Actually they used what nature had supplied them in their environment. My tribe carved solid canoes out of redwood trees. Although they did not make them 40 feet long, more like 16 to 24 feet.